Phloem Proteins
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In vascular plants, long-distance transport of photoassimilates is accomplished by the sieve tubes in the phloem. Dicotyledonous plants have evolved a highly specialized wound sealing mechanism that prevents the loss of sugars upon injury. This mechanism based on P-proteins (phloem proteins), which block the flow of assimilates by plugging sieve plates. We are studying different aspects of P-protein biology including molecular phylogeny and physiology, functional genomics and biophysics with a special focus on forisomes – a unique contractile P-protein type from legumes. more... |
ISOPRENOIDS
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Isoprenoids form the largest class of plant secondary metabolites and approximately 40.000 compounds have been described. In plants, they influence the membrane structure (sterols), redox chemistry (plastoquinone, ubiquinone) and growth regulation (gibberellins, cytokinins, brassinosteroids and abscisic acid) or act in defence mechanisms (phytoalexins) and as scavengers of free radicals (carotenoids, tocopherols). Based on their natural functions many isoprenoids can be adapted for industrial uses. However, the content of secondary metabolites in plants is often limited and thus builds the overall research topic of our group. more... |
FLOWER DEVELOPMENT meets YIELD IMPROVEMENT
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The switch from vegetative to reproductive growth is an essential developmental step within a plant´s lifecycle and is therefore tightly controlled by the integration of various exogenous and endogenous signals to maximize the reproductive success. In crop plants, reproduction is strongly linked with yield. Maintaining or improving yield while tolerating extreme weather conditions, such as drought or high temperatures, is one of the most important aims of modern biotechnology.
We aim to understand the molecular basics of floral induction in different crop species (e.g. tobacco, dandelion) for usage in biotechnological applications such as entirely elevated biomass or targeted modelling of flowering time and plant architecture to increase plant performance and thus, yield. more |